


Silent All These Years

by clutzycricket



Series: Little Earthquakes [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Constructing History, Elia Martell is slightly terrifying, Epistolary, Interviews, Letters, Political Fuckery, Pseudo-History, The Second Wizarding War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-13 23:57:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2170200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clutzycricket/pseuds/clutzycricket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a history of the Second War with Voldemort, as compiled by Samwell Tarly and Lavender Brown.</p><p>(Or, a collection of Letters, Articles, and other evidence proving that Rita Skeeter and Delores Umbridge are Lying Liars who Lie.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: A Work

It was universally agreed that Sam Tarly would write the history of the second war, mostly because Tyrion’s version would involve a lot more sex than actually happened, and Hermione’s would be so dry and detail oriented that no one would actually read it. (And then Skeeter’s work would be considered definitive, and that made Sansa  _furious_.)

And between Sam, Lavender, and Sansa's letter writing skills, they managed to create a work that flowed. 

Really, it was all because of something Brienne had said, that last awful year, that fighting wasn’t just dueling and the real versions of childhood games, but in other sorts of battlefields, with other types of courage.

So Sam included the crew of Potterwatch, the illegal potions lab run in Hogwarts to care for the students, and Madam Pomfrey teaching quiet lessons on healing. He included the people who had helped smuggle the Muggleborn children away from the Carrows and the people who had resisted, destroyed or stole records to ruin the Registration Committee. 

He wrote about that last battle in Hogwarts, the duels and Narcissa Malfoy’s deceit, and the charmswitches with their lanterns and barrow knives, walking among the dead and dying to see who could be saved, and what happened when the Death Eaters were not quite so dead.

And, because he owed it to the dead- and because Trys’ lazy, skeptical expression that meant someone was going to be crying soon was worryingly like his Uncle’s- he wrote what they fought against. All of it, those living and those dead. 

The resulting book was long, well-received by those who had fought, and was bitterly contested by the old guard, another small fight with words and courts that took place after Voldemort died. But it was published, and despite Skeeter’s scathing reviews, it  _sold_. 

Sometimes Sam wondered if there would ever come a day when they no longer had to fight, and what they would all do then.

But for now, Sam was gathering papers and letters, clever hands smuggling them away from the Ministry and the people who wanted them destroyed, donated by survivors and the families of the dead. He'd make another one, he decided, Lavender and Gilly looking over the letters critically and trying to decipher the writing. Share some of them in another book. He'd never be a grand duellist, but words were a type of weapon he was good at.

(He’d still stared at the box of photographs Dennis Creevey had sent him for a long time, and gotten uproariously drunk, seeing his friends again.)


	2. Excerpt One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the archives of Samwell Tarly, and The Voices series.

 

**First Year**

Arya,

If you weren’t told already, I was sorted into Ravenclaw- Jeyne is a Hufflepuff, and Trys is in Slytherin, which is going to end very well or very badly, I don’t know. (Aegon pretended his vegetables were popcorn, which ended  _badly_. Don’t do this, it gets everywhere.) Harry was in Gryffindor, after a long wait. Ginny’s idiot brother went into Gryffindor too, as did a muggleborn girl named Hermione, who was very pushy and a bit of a know-it all. (Am I like that? I want Bran to answer that question.) Sam Tarly, Robb’s Jeyne, and Jojen are here, so I am not too alone, don’t worry!

Professor McGonagall reminds me a bit of Father, I think they would get along well. Transfiguration is going to be theory for a while, which is probably for the best. Professor Flitwick is very excitable and cheery, like we were told- he fell off the chair when he saw Harry’s name, apparently. You will like Herbology I think- it is all about getting dirty and things that might make you ill. Astronomy is very late at night, and I was  _exhausted_  afterwards. I might do homework during History- Binns is as dull as Robb said. 

Professor Snape is horrible, though! He’s a bully, and I don’t understand why he is allowed to teach. (Jon and his sister think it might be because he Did Something during the war, and will be needed if Voldemort comes back? Maybe ask Uncle Blackfish or Aunt Lyanna?)

Lots of love,

Sansa

PS-The sorting did not hurt at all, ignore everything Robb and the Twins told you.

Sansa,

What do you mean it doesn’t hurt? That doesn’t help! 

Uncle Blackfish said a lot of words Mum hates, and Aunt Lya didn’t tell me anything, just not to bring it up with Jon’s other family or Alla’s. Maybe Aunt Lysa will tell me?

It’s boring here. Ginny is moping, because her brothers took the brooms to Hogwarts and Robb too, even though he isn’t even on the team. Rhae agreed to lend us hers, but not until next week. Luna is quiet, too, but Luna’s always quiet since her mum died. Bran is acting like a baby because Mum charmed the old barn so he can’t climb on it.

Arya the Annoyed

**Second Year**

(Charmed Letter)

The monster was a basilisk hidden under the school. Harry is possibly insane- is there a chance that insanity is a side-effect from what happened when the Potters died?  The Weasley girl has strength of will- she managed to resist a shade of Voldemort for most of the year. Harry said Dumbledore said it was a memory housed in the diary I told you about earlier this year. It was Malfoy Sr. behind it all. He tipped it into Ginny’s cauldron during that altercation where Aegon threatened Lockheart. I wonder if Draco knew on some level? Dobby ended up being the Malfoy’s silkie.  

Will tell you more when we get home.

Trys

Trys,

Hagrid will be released, which made Rhaegar all creepy smirking dragon-like. Again, creepy. Malfoy isn’t going to be charged, which isn’t surprising. Creepy Rhaegar is also curious about the diary- expect loads of questions when you get home. Ask Harry, maybe? **_Not_** the Weasley girl. Aunt Ellaria may offer to act as therapist, but unless she agrees, we can't use it.

Arianne

**Third Year**

(On Charmed Paper)

Snapdragon-

Fuck you, and tell your parents they were right. There is no record of Black being tried, interrogated, or anything. I suppose they thought that since Voldemort was done everyone would stop. (The Lestranges proved how wrong _that_  theory was.)

I agree about the dementors, but telling Skeeter that they got loose at the Quidditch match was dirty seeking. (Though you aren’t the only person who did it, as you no doubt figured out. Fudge will be furious, either way, and you’re an easy target. I’m not sure what Dumbledore’s reaction will be. Be  _careful_ , for the Seven’s sake.)

I’m going to point all this out to Bones- she knows about Malfoy’s trick with the Chamber last year, and his wife is set to inherit if Andromeda was formally disinherited. Sirius wasn’t, thanks to some strict old laws. She’s clean, as far as the family can guess. Even if he doesn’t have a hand in making sure nobody gets to speak with Black, its a good enough excuse to poke about quietly. 

-W

W-

You read too many trashy thrillers. (Yes, I can tell when you take them from my stash.) I’ll be careful. Yeah, I can see Malfoy pressing for the Dementors- he didn’t care about siccing a basilisk on the school his son attended. Wizards, not much for safety. I blame Healing Spells.

-R

**Fourth Year**

Mum-

Things you need to know-

Rita Skeeter is a lying liar who lies all the time. And stupid, because a lot of us know she’s making it up, but some bullying prats are running with it. (Ginny and I didn’t hex Malfoy or any Frey, or Sam’s brother. Really. It was someone else. They annoy a lot of people. Or Joff. No, really, we were going to, but then someone best us to it, so we just enjoyed it. Maybe the Twins? He was a beast to Sansa, and she might have gotten hurt. I couldn’t follow her in the Ravenclaw Common Room, and she wouldn’t let Bran or Luna in her room. Don’t talk to his parents, though, we’ll help her. If she keeps being stupid Trys will sic Rhae on her.)

Sansa isn’t reading this, but she knows I’m writing you, and she says she’s going to ask Egg’s friend Roslin to write a proper interview with the champions. It would be really good for Roslin, who is nice if mousy, and there are too many Freys for Skeeter to hurt her.

I might have a friend who will take me to the Yule Ball. Do I really need dress robes? Ron’s apparently have lace, Robb told him that he should have it fixed, but Ron’s being an idiot about the dance. He asked Fleur, who is a lot like Ms. Dayne, I think.

Arya

PS- Ginny and I are going to try out for the team next year. Could you tell Robb we need to borrow his broom to practice over the summer? He’ll be in Auror training anyway.

Arya,

I saw Roslin’s piece, it was very nice, and painted a very different light on the matter, one that a good amount of my colleagues are starting to agree with. Tell Harry to keep safe, both from Molly and myself. We’re worried, and I have to agree- if the Twins couldn’t get through the age line, then how could Harry? 

Who is your friend? And yes, you need dress robes. The money for them is enclosed- do not spend it on pranking material!

Love,

Mother

**Fifth Year**

(Through Muggle Post)

Harry-

I was grieved about what happened to Cedric at the tournament, and grieved that you had to fight for your life, only to be disbelieved. I know for a fact that Fudge knows it is possible that Voldemort is alive, and much of the Ministry quietly shares this position. But the Minister has an alarming amount of leeway, helped along by a Wizenmagot corrupted over the years and a byzantine legal code.

You are not alone, but to go near you would draw attention to your location, and if the Ministry tries to take advantage of your minor state, then Dumbledore might not be able to intervene. There are already snide little mentions in the articles of the Prophet, though I think some can be attributed to editor meddling. (I think, also, that Dumbledore blames himself for not noticing what happened to Alastor.)

Despite this, if handled carefully, my wife and children would not mind, if you chose to visit this summer. Elia in particular is a good ear, and Rhaenys is very cynical of the Wizarding World, with her own unfortunate experiences. You are also well acquainted with my sons and younger nephew. I might also be able to help divine some information on Voldemort’s resurrection, if you are willing.

We have also acquired a very troublesome hound too large for my daughter’s residence- she has a fondness for strays.

Respectfully,

Rhaegar Targaryen

Mr. Targaryen,

Thank you for the letter. It would be great to visit, and I would love to help. 

Please give the hound my hellos.

Harry

**Sixth Year**

(On enchanted paper)

Gargoyle,

Snapdragon agreed to make the potions, with a few others. Also, our brother is a bit paranoid, I think. I suppose he has reason to, at least.

“Briar Rose”, because our brother insisted

…Give him credit for trying. We have people who will ruin the records if something happens, too. Black’s little devices are also being made, with the Twins helping in production.

Gargoyle, who has to admit the nicknames suck

**Year Seven**

I’m sorry. I wish none of this ever happened. 

-Ellaria Sand

(No reply)


	3. Chamber of Secrets Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, two chapters at once, because I'm a bit scatterwitted.

Sansa,

Can you  _please please_  check on Ginny and Luna for me? Shireen and I are worried about them, because Ginny’s letter sound lonely and Luna is Luna. I can’t wait ‘til next year when I can be there with all of you. (Well, maybe not the Twins.)

Bran is sulking, and he misses you, and I am stealing Robb’s old broomstick- Don’t tell him! You can cheer me wen I make the Quidditch team. Or knit. Or something.

Arya the Impatient

PS- Are you alright?

 

Arya,

Ginny is very quiet- which is very strange, for Ginny, I agree. Percy swears she is doing fine, and he is capable of keeping an eye on her. Ned promised me that he would try to keep an eye on her, too. (She was very sharp when speaking to me.) Her crush on Harry isn’t helping, I think- she feels terribly awkward and being his best friend’s little sister makes it worse. 

I’m fine- Luna is storing her things with a few of us, because some of the older students who I won’t name are being awful towards her. Morag and I are arguing that she can bunk with us. Aunt Lya taught me a few tricks too, remember! (Also, Jon and Robb agreed to make a Point about not bullying, and Jon threatened to get the Twins involved.)

Your Sister,

Sansa

 

~

 

Mum,

We’re alright. Well, Egg, Dany, Sam, and I. Also Harry and my cousins, please tell Aunt Cat. Though if she decides to start lecturing people, please keep a pensive memory.

Did you know Harry was locked in his room with bars? The Twins told me, and were actually serious. Sam thinks the Dursleys are abusing Harry, too, and he would know.

(Sam is staying at Winterfell and Dragonstone this summer again. Aunt Elia hates Mr. Tarly, plus Sam is sensible. And Uncle Ned agreed.)

Do you- or Aunt Cat, or Mrs. Tyrell- know anyone with a mad house-elf named Dobby? Apparently he is trying to save Harry’s life.

It isn’t going very well.

Also, can Mr. Tyrell or Mrs. Greyjoy find some full-grown mandrakes? I don’t know why the Headmaster didn’t ask, but I remember that someone grows them.

Egg said it was one of his Aunt El’s friends, and said to let her know. 

Your Son,

Jon

 

My son, the master of understatement,

You picked up Ned’s habit of understating problems, didn’t you? I suppose it could be worse. 

(Oh, wait, you were  _arrested_. And called your poor sister for bail money. You take after Brandon as well. Or perhaps me, if I’m being honest.)

As for Harry- Cat has spoken at length to the Headmaster, and apparently the Headmaster fears Ministry interference, as well as some sort of protection. He’ll have to stay a month, but that does not preclude discreet visits from a certain red-haired niece and a responsible red-haired sister in law. And you and your brother, I have no doubt, though I ask that you take your sister along. She has the sense, if not the power, you do.

I wrote to Ellaria, who agreed to see what she can do.

Your Mother

 

~

 

Willas,

Does the Ministry have any record of what is going on inside Hogwarts? I only ask because it is very strange, that so many events are allowed to happen without interference. I wonder if Dumbledore is trying to keep them out- given how riddled with “former” or “coerced” Death Eaters, I suppose I cannot blame him for worrying.

Malora Hightower,

Professor of Arithmancy

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

PS- Ignore the quill, it was a gift from Humphrey and automatically signs my letters.

 

Aunt Malora,

Not much- Marg and Loras told the family some, and Rhae’s brothers and Sam Tarly told her some more. Dad is saying we should pull everyone out until they behave, but Granddad, as you can guess, is pushing to stay because forfeiting Hogwarts is something that will cost more than we gain. I’m surprised Madam Bones is doing nothing, but I think her hands are tied. I’m looking into the laws limiting her office.

Will

PS- Humphrey’s proud of you, Aunt. We forgive Loras his pride in himself, so let’s forgive Humphrey for being proud of someone else.

 

~

 

Garlan,

I have a purely theoretical question for you. Is there any creature that could communicate with a parseltongue, and turn people into stone? Possibly very, very old- at least fifty.

Loving you always,

Margaery

PS- Possibly allergic to chickens.

 

Margaery,

Purely theoretical? Merlin, I hope so, since the creatures you are describing… I can only think of a basilisk.

Please tell me this is a book or something. Please.

Garlan

PS- Marg, you are making Garlan nervous. What is going on in that school? Leo.

 

~

 

Sweet Sister Temperance,

You may have a point about the fuckery of the wizarding world. Fucking Lockheart.

Aegon

 

Egg,

I’m always right. It’s part of my charm. Still, come by my place and we’ll compare mad classmate stories. Without getting arrested for a bar fight.

Rhaenys

PS- You know Jon and Ned sent me all the details of your demented little Valentines, right? Stay away from that Bella girl.

 

~

 

Mrs. Weasley,

It was quietly made known to me that your daughter was one of the victims of the latest danger in Hogwarts. (By which I mean Aegon, who was shouting a great deal of profanities about Malfoy and those who hurt little girls out of spite and pride. I don’t know if Elia was more amused by the profanity, which was very in depth, or impressed by his perception of what happened.)

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this whenever we meet in Winterfell- I am Obella’s mother, who plays with your daughter and Arya Stark. I work as a muggle psychiatrist- that is, I help people, specifically children, who have been through traumatic events or suffer illnesses. While I would not normally push my services, I am aware that the wizarding health system is not quite so forward thinking about these issues. We also have laws in place to protect patient privacy, so there would be no worries on that front. If you feel your daughter might benefit from speaking to a neutral party, one who will keep her secrets and not have the fears that keep survivors of violence from speaking to loved ones, then I would be happy to help.

Dr. Ellaria Sand 

PS- Oberyn has agreed to sort out the paperwork that might be needed, via his brother in law.

 

Ms. Sand,

Thank you. Catelyn Stark actually mentioned you before I received your letter, and that you are speaking to Bran after his accident.

I think it would be a good idea to try, at least. The Healers at St. Mungo’s… they frightened Ginny more than anything, really.

Yours,

Molly Weasley

 

~

 

Headmaster,

I deeply suspect we need to have a long conversation about certain subjects best not spoken of in public places. If possible, would you be amenable to arriving at Dragonstone this Thursday, around three in the afternoon?

Rhaegar Targaryen

{No response was located.- Shireen Baratheon}


	4. 1993-1994, The Black Escape

**Willas Tyrell, Senior Archivist, Interviewed by Lavender Brown in October 1998**

_Tyrell_ : {Willas Tyrell is a tall, spare man in his twenties, with wild brown hair and the famous Tyrell golden hazel eyes. He meets me in Hogwarts with a fond, reminiscent smile, barely seeming to lean on the cane he has used since a curse accident when he was in fifth year.} I was a kid when Black was imprisoned in Azkaban, but I remember my grandmother {Olenna Tyrell, the so-called Queen of Thorns} commenting on how much everyone was trying to forget. They didn’t want to think about anything, didn’t want to question it.

Well, some people did. Rhaegar Targaryen, I know, was angry about what happened. Lily Potter was his student, after all, and his wife was Harry’s godmother. My father wondered, quietly, because he liked Sirius and didn’t actually trust as many people as people thought he did. Tywin Lannister and Barty Crouch Sr were imposing order, everyone thought, so sacrificing one man didn’t seem too terrible a loss, I suppose.

 _Lavender Brown_ : Do you think Dumbledore knew?

 _Tyrell_ : About Sirius being innocent? God, I hope not. I know Rhae wondered, and with some of his actions, I know he wasn’t infallible... But at the same time, there were other issues. The Longbottoms’ death, which chilled a lot of the questioning, from what I’ve been told. Elbert Arryn was found dead in an alley, and some of the children who should have gotten on the Express never did. Maybe it was easier, to just push aside all of the inconvenient bits.

 _Brown_ : That does match up with what we know from school.

 _Tyrell_ : {twirling his cane} Yeah, know that feeling. But no one could really do anything until Black escaped, because there was that feeling that touching it would get you a cell right there for the older ones, and I didn’t get to the archives until four years before Black escaped. And when we found out, I took a little risk. {he shrugs, with a careless elegance}

 _Brown_ : Why, though? It had been years, after all.

 _Tyrell_ : Mr. Targaryen and his daughter never believed it. If you’ve never met them, you wouldn’t understand, but Mr. Targaryen knew Sirius, knew Mrs. Potter, and he always had this odd little expression, and he broke away from Dumbledore because of the whole mess. And Rhae...

 _Brown_ : Rhaenys Targaryen is a scandal, but why would she believe he didn’t do it?

 _Tyrell_ : {rueful grin} While she lived, Rhaenys Targaryen probably knew more about both versions of the Order then any other soul, saving Dumbledore. Dragonstone Island was the Order’s safe house, and she was one of the rare souls who could use the secret passages to their fullest extent. Afterwards, well, she was just a silly woman who couldn’t hack her NEWTS. No one noticed her, even when she openly spoke in meetings.

 _Brown_ : {laughing} I see. So, what did you find?

 _Tyrell_ : Files for members of the Black family, but no judicial record for Sirius Black. There was a few records on the explosion cleanup- one of the Obliviator’s was the type to file a report out of habit. Which was something that was a quagmire, let me tell you. My boss was a minor Lannister cousin, and I couldn’t tell which way Tywin Lannister would fall. Same with Dumbledore- I’d spent enough time in Dragonstone to know Black was part of the falling out between them, so...

 _Brown_ : How could you tell they weren’t misfiled?

 _Tyrell_ : The master files, a codex telling us where everything should be. It was magically updated, and I knew how to tell if it had been altered. But by then I was starting to realize something else might be going on...

~

**Marq Piper, DMLE, Interviewed by Sansa Stark in August 1998**

_Piper_ : Stark, you really think this’ll help?

 _Stark_ : I don’t think it can hurt any worse than we’re already hurting.

 _Piper_ : Fine, since Edmure asked. Look, when Black escaped, we all started gossiping, I admit it. Fuck, they called him You Know Who’s right hand man, and with Bellatrix Lestrange, that needed some saying. But Edmure’s sister got a funny expression, and said she couldn’t imagine the boy she knew doing that. Of course, she was friends with Littlefucker, so most of us could ignore that. But Lannister and Fudge were fighting, and the rest of us knew to burrow in when that happened.

 _Stark_ : What were they fighting about?

 _Piper_ : The dementors. The Old Lion didn’t want them posted around the school year round. He argued that it was going to cause more problems.

 _Stark_ : Which it did. The train search was a nightmare, and they broke onto the grounds for a quidditch game.

 _Piper_ : Right. Plus, Black waltzed right through them. Dark wizard or not, a few of us might have been rooting for him. Fudge wasn’t popular with the DMLE, and the Dementors were worse. A few of us wondered if Malfoy wanted the Dementors at Hogwarts for some reason, since Potter seemed to get the brunt of it, but his own spawn was there, and we didn’t think he’d risk it.

 _Stark_ : Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure...

 _Piper_ : I’m going to have to read this book now. But Lannister, Bones, Scrim, Baratheon, Stark, they all were pushing for Aurors or even hiring out cryptid guards. Fudge wasn’t having any of it, and none of us knew why.

~

**Ellaria Sand, Report**

_Sam Tarly_ : Can you explain what exactly you do?

 _Ellaria Sand_ : I’m a child psychologist {excised summary}.

 _Tarly_ : And what was your professional opinion on the long-term effects of the dementors on the students?

 _Sand_ : Well, I didn’t do a professional study, but from what I gathered, there were severe emotional stresses on the students. There was a failed petition to get the them sent away, and it mentioned heavy uses of emotion-influencing magic, slipping grades, and the Hogsmeade visits, which helped act as a sort of pressure valve, becoming a new source of stress. Not to mention using Cheering Charms on children, which is highly discouraged by any sort of magic using parent, because it doesn’t always have good long term effects.

 _Tarly_ : So in protecting the students, they were doing more harm?

 _Sand_ : Oh, they protected the students? From what I heard, not only did they fail in every respect, they caused additional safety concerns for both students and residents of Hogsmeade.

{ **Editor’s note, not published** :

Sansa: Sam, did you really just do that bit so we could get Dr. Sand doing one of her elegant little dressing downs in print?

Lavender: Well, we couldn’t publish Mr. Martell’s fuck you.}

~

**Auror’s Report, June 1994**

Black vanished from the Charm’s Tower between patrols. Both Aurors Dawlish and L. Stark were cleared in interrogation, though Minister Fudge was pressing for the dismissal of Stark. He also claimed three underage students were held hostage and Confunded, but is forbidding Aurors from interrogating the students. S. Snape, professor, backs up this story.  
There is also the rumor that Dumbledore let a werewolf teach Defense.

(Note from Bones, scribbled in the margins- Again, can we PLEASE have a lesson on basic report writing somewhere along the line? I can barely understand half of these reports, though occasionally I wonder if it is education or politics... The timing of that rumor is suspicious, especially as Dumbledore is calling for a reopening into the Black investigation.)

~

**Interdepartmental Memo, June 1994**

Senior Archivist Lannister

What do you mean that there was a fire ruining all traces of the Black records?

Amelia Bones, Head of DMLE

 

**Memo, July 1995**

Madame Bones,

There were no records, aside from an obliviator’s report that mentioned Fudge the ranking ministry official on scene until Aurors arrived.

\- A concerned archivist.

~

**{Not published, found by Sansa Stark and presented to Elia Martell}**

Note, March 1996

S-

Please try not to set anything on fire until I get back! I know That Place is horrible, and I don't know what he's thinking, arguing that it's better than Dragonstone, though I suppose it is a bit less awkward than having Viserys around. (Though Molly W. might be worse. Honestly, she has to realize I haven't a reputation left to salvage, and she doesn't even know about us.)

I agree with Tonks and Nym, though, that they want you dead or worse. Summoning spirits is possible, but not to victims of the dementor's kiss. I don't know if Fudge knows that, but look at Crouch Jr. Look at what nearly happened to Harry. I know this is horrible, and if I could find something to do, something to fix, something to destroy to make this right, I would. But I want you alive, and I want you here. That floppy haired boy who my brothers used to keep watch over wants you alive.

You made me a promise, remember. I intend to keep you to that promise, no matter what.

All of my love,

R


	5. Elia Martell, The Quidditch Cup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elia Martell-Targaryen's views on the Quidditch World Cup

_ Memoir, Elia Martell _

 

My son loved Quidditch- not as much as my sister in law loves merely flying, but he was a soul who loved the madness of crowds and the thrill of chases, the waiting for that all important moment. 

 

So my husband, always eager to play the doting parent when he was able, took it upon himself to acquire tickets to that disastrous Quidditch World Cup. My daughter declined to go, for various reasons- she had always been chary around wizards, and having left for normal schooling with a gaping hole in her side had not improved matters. My mother in law also declined to attend, saying she preferred the smaller matches, and perhaps knowing that Rhaegar’s taste for overdoing it would clash with her own.

 

I went, because I was curious, and because my husband, Aegon, and Dany needed someone sensible with them. And because I was terribly eager to see my godson, who I was refused contact with for so long.

 

Which, I know, has long been a source of confusion and speculation for many people. Why did I not take the boy in when his parents died? Why did I not step in when he turned eleven?

 

The truth? I tried, and it is a terrible thing to realize how vulnerable your children are. I can say this now, with both of them safely gone, but Rhaegar and I tried to take in Harry when he was left.

 

And my children were threatened. That I should lose them, that they should be killed or maimed, that… all manner of things. I had been warned what sort of world I was marrying into, and what darkness was brewing, and how very, very dangerous it was, but I had been young and reckless and in love. 

 

At that point, when Lily died, I was over a decade older, my husband had proved unfaithful, and I had been living, in essence, a life under siege. And my daughter was about to be leaving our care for long periods of time, for a man I was no longer certain I could trust wholeheartedly. His supposedly foolproof protections had failed not once, but twice, and so many of those who had gathered at Dragonstone were dead. 

 

And that same man refused me Harry.

 

Now do you begin to understand? We were not the only ones to question.

 

And there were still deaths, after James and Lily, a fact so many forget. There were still children who did not get on the Express after the winter holidays.

 

But, ah, the boys, they didn’t  _ care _ . My little alleycat of a daughter was out of that place, but they were there, Aegon and Jon, and they saw him, and they worried, because Aegon was that sort of boy.

 

And we did take him in at least part of the time, because then Aegon could make it his own plan.

 

So we were to meet with the Weasleys and Harry, and I think enough ink has been spilled on the match itself, and not on the peculiar powderkeg leading up to it, and how it affected the Triwizard.

 

The cup was to be a symbol of everything that had been reclaimed since the “death” of Riddle, and truly, it worked best at showcasing to anyone with eyes the way the upper echelons of the Ministry worked in those days. The Top Box, a gilded showcase of the best and most important, included the Head of Magical Games and Sports, a degenerate gambler with ties to various crime groups including the Death Eaters, who was openly and egregiously blocking outside investigation into his department, even when one of his employees had gone missing; the rigid and almost cliche-Victorian Crouch Senior, whose fall into disgrace is widely known; Fudge, who had his puppet master along for the ride; the Weasleys, who had gotten in possibly through applied blackmail and most likely because it was known that they would be bringing Harry Potter along. 

 

And, of course, my husband, the Silver Prince of the Targaryen Family.

 

So, of course, everything went merrily to hell.

 

The veela display was meant as a calculated embarrassment, I think. To this day, I do wonder if even the Bulgarian organizers knew how calculated the Veela had made it. After all, no one likes to be paraded around to do tricks, and the Ministry's policy on non-wanded wizards is very clear.

 

Then, of course, someone had the brilliant idea of letting a bunch of enchanted gold loose in an environment rife with betting…

 

I people watched, more than anything, throughout the match. The children were enthralled, I gave them that, but my husband was terribly bored unless it was one of his own up there, and I saw him looking longingly at the book he had brought with him.

 

Malfoy and Weasley were both occasionally glaring at each other, not unexpected after the events with Riddle’s diary and their more public debates on non-magical rights.

 

Then the match ended, and we left. Dany and Harry were comparing notes on the last move made by Viktor Krum, who I later came to know through his efforts in the Dracarys Network. Suspecting that they would try it themselves, I wondered absently if I could arrange for him to visit Dragonstone with the Weasley Children- and its safety-rigged Quidditch pitch.

 

Despite the domestic and relatively pleasant thoughts, I was still a charmworker, in a tent, surrounded by a mass of wand-happy, emotional wizards.

 

Or, as my daughter later put it, “a snake surrounded by a flock of hawks.”

 

Needless to say, I did not sleep heavily, or much at all. So when the shouting started, I was the first one awake.

 

I married my husband when Voldemort was still being whispered in low voices, the first time. After my father-in-law had passed after a long illness, Dragonstone had become a base for the Order of the Phoenix, and I had been the target of a few attacks myself.

 

So I had seen the Death Eaters, and I had fought them, in my way, with potions and guards and occasionally a flying bench.

 

Seeing the masks, seeing those figures jeering as they lifted an innocent, defenseless family into the air for sport, brought it all crashing down again.

 

We stopped for very little- waking the children, making sure they had their wands, and that the enchanted blade my brother had made for me was safely in my coat pocket. And we took the children into the forest, looking for a clump of red hair with one lone dark head mixed in.

 

I didn’t find it, and I wonder what might have happened if we did.

 

History blames Percy Weasley for not being suspicious of Crouch Sr’s behaviour after the Cup, and wonders how the poor boy didn’t notice.

 

I ask this, in his defense- how was an eighteen year old boy, who had worked for his employer for less than three months, to notice those differences when colleagues he knew for decades were so easily fobbed off? It was well-known that Crouch barely paid attention to his assistant, except to pile work on his head. 

 

And it was not as if there was not precedent- no one noticed Mad-Eye Moody had been replaced, or that one of the Defense professors had been possessed.

 

But that night… oh, so many things could have been changed. 

 

How, people asked, could this have happened with the whole of the Ministry watching? Where were the security measures? Where was Bagman? (Who, as I was later told, was somewhere else when the riot started- most likely working on his gambling debts.) Why was the response at the lone wizard with the Dark Mark, not with the volunteers helping coordinate the rescue of the Roberts?

 

Twenty wizards went to face whoever conjured the Dark Mark, and all aimed Stunners at exactly the same time.

 

My niece has kept me apprised of nonmagical less-than-lethal tools, and the Stunner would fall into the same category. Aimed at a healthy adult individual by one wizard, it would be relatively harmless, barring concussions. Four or more are dangerous, especially when the target is not at the peak of their endurance.

 

Twenty spells were aimed at three  _ children _ , and only my godson’s reflexes kept them from landing.

 

I could, perhaps, understand- intellectually, at least, as a woman who has seen what Bellatrix Lestrange is capable of- except for Crouch Sr and his insistence on pinning the blame on those same three children. Only Alysanne Lefford’s level head kept Crouch in line that night, and knowing what we knew about Sirius Black’s imprisonment, about his lack of a trial…

 

Oh, my heart  _ froze _ when I was told the news. Rhaenys was the one to tell Sirius- I can share that now, it hurts no one, and she said his face was terrifying, for a brief moment. And my daughter was never frightened, and she had never, before or afterwards, been frightened of Sirius Black.

 

Though that must have been nothing compared to what was going through Crouch’s head when he signed his own death warrant. Because he must have known, when simple, stolid Amos Diggory brought Winky forward, and laid elf and wand at his feet, and he must have suspected before that.

 

If he had confessed, what would have happened?  If he had confessed to having taken his son out of Azkaban and leaving his dying wife in the building, keeping him under Imperius for a decade?

 

Amos Diggory was on a rampage, and I was privately glad my son was spared that- oh, he broke no silly laws by owning a wand, but the man was willing to repeatedly accuse a thirteen-year-old boy of conjuring the mark of the man who murdered his parents.

 

As I said, simple.

 

Crouch would have faced Azkaban, his legacy in tatters, but he  _ deserved  _ it, the hypocritical bastard. 

 

His son’s actions kept them from capturing all but a handful of those “rioters”. Four were injured too badly to escape, and the Lannister Twins had made sure that their friends could not take them away. My family ran into two more in the woods trying to prey on those fleeing the chaos and looking for a prime target to hit.

 

What was to be done?

 

You would think that Ministry would rethink the Triwizard Tournament, but at that point… oh. Fudge’s pride was smarting, with Rita Skeeter’s fear-mongering in the press. Crouch Sr.’s Imperius over his son had been broken, and his son must have caught him out shortly. Bagman, of course, was not likely to ask for so much as extra Aurors.

 

And Dumbledore… no one ever knew what was going through that man’s head. I asked, of course, because I had fewer reasons to be in awe of him. 

 

He had looked annoyed, and said that there were reasons upon reasons, not the least because there was no way for him to stop it at this point, and so he had no recourse but to make the best of it.

 

Of course, we all know how badly that ended...

 

[Editor's Note: **Is Elia really the best witness for all of this?- Sam**

_We never got Aegon's body back, and you know what happened with... well.- Sansa._

She requested an interview, actually! And she agreed to write more about the later Order, which will help. Besides, she isn't wrong about any of it, is she?- Lavender

_You sound like Ginny_.]


	6. Chapter Six: The Triwizard Part One

Chapter Six

 

Letter, Sansa Stark to Rhaenys Targaryen

 

Rhae,

 

I swear, I have no idea what happened. Harry has no idea how this happened. I know you were worried about Egg and Jon, not to mention Loras, who was one of the current favorites in the Hogwarts betting pool. (I was just happy that Robb graduated last year. You know he would have fussed so about it.)

 

When the Hogwarts champion was announced, I was sitting with your brothers and Harry, as Jeyne and Anthony have been  _ sickening _ to be around. Egg looked momentarily annoyed, I will admit, but he admitted that he did not feel like dealing with the Prophet and its scrutiny.

 

Well, after Trys pointed out that a half-charmworker Champion would have been newsworthy. 

 

Then, of course, the Goblet spat out a fourth name, and Harry was called to the smaller chamber.

 

And the adults, in their wisdom and experience, shrugged and said that someone must have tricked the Age Line, possibly Harry- which he wouldn’t have, he really was happy for everyone who did enter their names, but he loathes anyone making a fuss of him. And Moody seems to think that whoever it was was trying to  _ kill  _ him.

 

Again.

 

And despite that, and no one really wanting him in the tournament, he has to compete! I still don’t know why there isn’t a way around it, really.

 

I’m worried about what is going to happen, after… well, after the last three years. Harry said it best himself when he said he was looking forward to not being the one in mortal peril this year!

 

And of course, everyone is whispering, which just makes it worse. I don’t know what to do, except point out the holes in every argument they are making. (Jeyne was even starting to think Harry did it, but she is mostly believing me and Elinor, who has been privy to just about every attempt to get around the Age Line and doesn’t think he could have anyway. Ron was as well, but he is, as Arya loves to say, very stupid at times. He’ll probably realize it when someone nearly dies.)

 

Any advice would be wonderful.

 

Frazzled but affectionate,

Near-Cousin Sansa

 

**Interview, Arya Stark**

 

(Arya Stark is currently teaching classes in defense through the Dracarys Institute, one of the youngest instructors, and the first picked by Jon Stark-Targaryen, co-founder of the post-War Institute with Elia Martell-Targaryen. The second, of course, was Harry Potter.)

 

Arya: Okay, heads up. Yeah, Sam, you were there, why do you need me for this? 

 

{The interviewer sighs.}

 

Sam: Because, Arya, I was Jon’s tagalong friend, and I didn’t know all of what was going on. I didn’t know what happened with Sansa, and I didn’t know most of the Order things until I was sure my Dad wouldn’t try and use me to try and…

 

Arya: ...Okay, good point. Having met your Dad, I’m not sure I wouldn’t put Imperiusing you past him. And between Harry and what Jon’s family were trying to do, having the wizard who wanted the Head of the DMLE post spying on us wouldn’t have ended well.

 

Sam: Oh, yeah. {beat} Which is why I’m leaving that to Lavender. But can you explain a bit about what happened after the First Task?

 

Arya: {bites lip} Well… for starters, I think everyone knows about Malfoy starting those stupid Potter Stinks badges. But I think people forget that Joffrey Baratheon was really upset to not be chosen for the Cup, too. I mean, a lot of people were upset- Jon sulked, a few of the Ravenclaws had apparently devoted all their time to trying to get around the Age Line, and all that. But you remember Joffrey- he was a special kind of crazy.  If the magical cup that entered you into a contest that usually killed people was going to spit out an extra name, then dammit, it should be his.

 

Sam: That reminds me of Joffrey, yeah.

 

Arya: That’s also the year he decided that Sansa was an acceptable toy. Now, as you can imagine, our cousin and his brother didn’t like that, Harry didn’t like one of his first wizarding friends being frightened like that, Elinor didn’t like her friend being hurt, I didn’t like my sister being hurt, and Trys and Edric didn’t like it, either. But Sansa was trying to focus on the Crazy Death Competition and Harry not dying, so…she did what Sansa always does, and she put on a smile and made us all believe it was a lot less bad than it really was.

 

And she ended up trying to distract us by focusing on convincing people that it made  _ no sense _ for Harry to enter the contest. And it was going… slightly better than Hermione’s attempts to free the house elves. Mostly because Sansa is good at listening when she wants to. And she made a dent in Ravenclaw, because she’d apparently been really, really pissed when some people thought Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, and killing Muggleborns, and she’d said I’d told you so a lot.

No one likes being on that side of Sansa’s “I told you so”s. 

 

And then the dragon happened, and people actually looked at Sansa, looked at Harry, then looked at the dragon, which was really, really mean looking. 

 

(I swear, Dany Targaryen had hearts in her eyes, it was that scary looking.)

 

And if stupid Rita Skeeter hadn’t started meddling, maybe things would have been different.

 

Because the Yule Ball was then dropped on everyone’s heads. Not mine at first, because I was a third year and not really old enough to go. But then Sansa started getting hounded by Joffrey Baratheon, even though we all made sure to never leave her alone. And Aegon got one of his scatterwitted ideas to just have Harry, who is terminally shy, and Sansa, who is also Queen of Introverts, go together, since Harry needed a partner and Sansa needed someone who was good at curses. Everyone knew they were friends, after all.

 

And I kind of figured it would end badly, because hey, Sansa and trouble go together like earmuffs and mandrakes. And Gendry Waters offered to take me as a friend, because he knew I was worried, so I got an eyewitness seat to all the drama.

 

Joffrey was at least smart enough to wait for Sansa and Harry to be somewhere isolated before he tried to attack them.

 

Sansa ended up cursing him between the legs when Harry got him with a Stunner.

 

Turns out, Rita Skeeter? Unregistered animagus, actually can turn into a beetle, and was watching  _ everything _ .

 

Sam: But no one knew that just then.

 

Arya: No, they didn’t. Hermione found out at the end of the year, and Harry told the beginnings of the Dracarys Network, which kind of made things messy later, but… [Arya shrugs] We were making it up as we went along, really. And because everything got so screwed up, I think that’s how Rhae got the idea.

 

Sam: Huh. So while it was fighting Voldemort, the organization aspects were because of Rita Skeeter?

 

Arya: Yup.

 

Note, Roslin Frey to Robb Stark, via owl post

 

(found by Sansa Stark)

Robb,

 

I swear, I swear, I swear I have no clue how Rita Skeeter managed to write that article. No one knows, from what I hear, how she can do it- someone made a joke about Bloodraven and a thousand eyes and one, but she somehow does manage to get into places where she really cannot manage to go. My brother is the assistant editor, and he’s griping now, of course. Your sister was attacked, and Joffrey Baratheon is known to be disturbed, with only Tywin Lannister’s influence keeping it from reaching the press.

 

Which is probably why the article was about some silly, blasted love triangle, and not about the safety of the students, and Hagrid, who everyone who has been to the school for the last half-century knows!

 

(Said brother was half-amused at my idea of writing an article on the safety of the students, including the apparent ease with which people can get into Hogwarts undetected.)

 

Though Sansa does seem to have her own league of defenders, I should warn you, Rita seems to be warming up to the subject of the perils of teenage romance. A Miss Granger is also within her sights…

 

Letter, Bran Stark to Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, and Ginny Weasley

 

Can I go to Hogwarts now?

 

Ginny, your mum is angry. Very, very angry, mostly because Ron was at the bottom of a LAKE and Harry is competing against DRAGONS (though that’s cool) and Sansa is getting bullied- tell Ned Dayne that spell sounds awesome- and she thinks it shouldn’t be happening.

 

She’s probably right, since Mum agrees, and is wearing that expression that makes Uncle Robert stop saying something stupid. Dad agrees about Ron, but I don’t think he knows what to do about the Cup. 

 

Aunt Lysa was here, which meant I was supposed to play quietly with Robin, but we decided to eavesdrop instead. (You can get him quiet if you convince him it is a cool thing to do, like Sansa says.) Ginny, your mum was upset, and Dad said something about safety spells that would pull people out of the lake when the hour was up.

 

Aunt Lysa said spells like that had failed before, and mentioned a couple of names. Dad said they had all died in the last war, and not in a children’s game.

 

Aunt Lysa laughed, only it sounded funny, and Robin turned green and I got worried he was going to start shaking. Then she said something about how could he think this was just a children’s game?

Do you know what’s going on?

 

Bran

 

Interview, Willas Tyrell

 

{Tyrell looks contemplatively at his cup a few minutes before answering.}

 

Willas: God, I wish I hadn’t gone sober. Did we suspect this was going to happen? {he gives a bitter little twist of the lips} Lavender Brown, ghost girl of Gryffindor Tower. Did you think something was going to happen? You were closer to the situation than we were.

 

{Interviewer waits silently for Tyrell to give a proper answer.}

 

Willas: Merlin or Nymeria or the Crone or whatever is listening help us, yes, we did. Rhaenys and Rhaegar Targaryen said it with all the force of a Cassandra, and all we could do was worry at the broken parts and missing bits of the stories to try and figure out what was going on. We were still two steps behind, and even knowing that there had to be a trap… No one would ever listen to Rhaenys. And without a name, without a why and a how, there really wasn’t anyone to listen. Not, of course, that Crouch had left us in good circumstances for that. Weasley was terrified for his job, Bagman was crooked and unwilling to see a Death Eater if they danced a naked conga in front of him, and the Headmasters each had their own struggles to cope with.

  
So those kids walked into a death trap, an audience cheering them on.


	7. The Third Task

Chapter Seven

 

**{From the Notes of Rhaegar Targaryen, as archived by the Dracarys Institute}**

 

The problem with trying to research a living problem is two-fold. The first is the fact that there are going to be circumstances and information that you cannot find. The second, of course, is the fact that you are working with a living subject. In some cases, you cannot reach said subject and must rely on secondhand reports and other matters. In others, the problem is that you cannot bear to cause irreparable harm to the person affected.

 

(I have, after all, learned my lesson. Beside the point, Lily would return from the grave merely to have the satisfaction of being the one to kill me.)

 

In the matter of the events of the Third Task of what shall hopefully be the final Triwizard Tournament, I have been forced to go with a great deal of guesswork. Lily was very possessive with her work, and all that I know is that her secrets are likely to lie somewhere in the pages of Bloodraven’s library.

  


**Interview, Trystane Martell, to Lavender Brown**

{Trystane Martell works as an importer of muggle goods into the wizarding world, and is dressed as a muggle today, complete with a warm wool coat and gloves. He is smiling as he greets the people he recognizes.}

 

Trystane: Hello, Lavender, sorry it’s been so long, but Sansa’s explained what I’ve been up to lately?

 

Brown: Yes, something about radios. It was fascinating, but I don’t think I’ll get the full affect until I see it.

 

Trystane: {small smile} That would be the point, wouldn’t it? ...And you wanted to ask about that maze, didn’t you?

 

{Interviewer nods, Quick Quotes Quill ducking}

 

Trystane: It was… really weird, being on the edges of it all. I mean, I knew Harry, and we were friends, sort of. Mostly through Sansa- for someone who was so busy being sweet and kind she can be a brick wall at times, and we all just get carried away with it. Not Arya, so much, and you’d think having Arianne for a sister would give me some immunity, but… Sansa thought Harry isolating himself was a bad idea, and he went along, because he trusted Sansa. And you were in the same house and year as him, so you were probably in a similar spot.

 

Brown: Everyone was so excited, and then you saw the odd flash of… something.

 

Trystane: Aunt Elia was ready to jump out of her skin, when she came to visit with her husband before the task, and Sansa, Ned, Hermione, Ron… Sansa and Hermione were odd friends, and I don’t think they always saw eye to eye…

 

Brown: Oh, _Merlin_ , no! They had books and Harry in common and that was it! Sansa kept getting that Stark Look and Hermione’s hair was self-frizzing from trying to hold her tongue until about Sixth Year, I think.

 

Trystane: That’s how it always seemed. But… when you saw most of how the people who didn’t know Harry were acting, they were all acting like it was the build-up to… well, Aegon once called it similar to the build-up to the World Cup, and when everything was said and done, he wasn’t wrong was he?

 

{sad look}

 

You know, for all the time he spent getting himself into trouble and acting like an idiot, Aegon was actually pretty smart about people, most of the time.

 

Interviewer: And the people who knew Harry?

 

Trystane: The closer they were, the more they worried. Granger was drilling him mercilessly, and Ned volunteered to partner with him more often than not. I didn’t know much about what was going on outside Hogwarts, but I know that Aunt Elia and Rhae were trying to see if they could find some information outside Hogwarts.

 

Interviewer: With the help of Sirius Black.

 

Trystane: {stiffening} I don’t know about that. And Aunt Elia only really worked with her husband or Uncle Oberyn during the War, so if Rhae worked with Sirius...

 

Interviewer: Sorry, I didn’t mean… but, when Harry came out of the maze…

 

Trystane: It was either one of the Weasleys or Arya who realized something was wrong first, and they caught Sansa’s attention over Hermione’s by about half a second- you could tell by the way their hair turned, and Sansa stood up to get a better look… then it spread across the stands, like the tide coming in, with whispers and the odd scream, from the person clever enough to realize it. The officials tried to circle them off so no one could see it, but the damage was done, and panic was starting to spread.

 

Elinor Tyrell was the one who noticed that Professor Moody was dragging Harry off, and we went to go follow him- Ron, Ned, and Sansa to follow Harry, and I went with Elinor and Arya to see if I could find Aunt Elia or Arya’s father. Hermione, Gendry, and Jeyne Poole went to see if they could find a teacher or another adult- more chances, and we didn’t want to risk getting trampled.

 

{beat}

 

Or dealing with what certain… people would be saying.

 

Interviewer: Joffrey or Draco Malfoy, considering the comments both made throughout the previous… four years?

 

Trystane: Among others. Elinor, Arya, and I found Aunt Elia, who was in one of her rare fits of temper- she’s not as dramatic as Uncle Oberyn, but she can be just as dangerous if you push her right. And Ned, Ron, and Sansa followed Harry to Moody’s office, where, well…

 

You know the rest.

 

**Transcript, Interview of Edric Dayne by Amelia Bones, preserved in the records of Dragonstone House and private papers of Rhaenys Targaryen**

  


Um, you wanted to know why we followed Harry and Professor M… well, he wasn’t Moody, we all saw that, the four of us and everyone else.

 

He was… look, when we covered the Unforgivables, he demonstrated them on spiders. Some of the students- most of us, really- thought he was really amazing, having actually done things, especially compared to Lockhart in Second Year.

 

I think the Stark sisters started to really hate him that year. And I can’t blame them. He mentioned straight out what happened to Rickard Stark in the last war, and Neville… Sansa got what we call her Stark Face on, where she gets very solemn, because Neville was looking sick through the lesson, to the point Hermione yelled at a teacher.

 

And he wasn’t better with too many others- I guess since he’s actually a Death Eater, does it make a messed-up sense that he showed off those curses so carefully? He made the spiders bigger so we could see all the details…

 

Well, I mean, Neville was bad, and when Aegon found out he got _pissed_. Eleanor Mooton who lost her uncle, and everyone else…

 

So on the one hand, there was the idea that he was cool. He’d been an auror who had Done Things…

 

...Yeah, I know Willas Tyrell, not well though. Why?

Anyway, there was that, but there were also a lot of people who were as likely to get hurt, and I think a lot of it depended on how those holes sit in your family. My parents… they died a few weeks before the War ended, when a few of those… a few Death Eaters raided a cryptid shop. And Harry- he was quiet and didn’t talk. But Neville was a wreck.

 

And Sam said the man we thought was Moody was actually one of the people who tortured Neville’s parents?

 

That’s fucked up. He took him up to his study after the lesson, comforted him…

 

But you wanted to know about the whole mess with the Third Task. We’re all tall, so we could follow pretty quick, and Moody wasn’t paying attention, and Harry- his leg was hurt, and the fake was dragging him around, practically.

 

We heard some of his questions, and something about them made Sansa tilt her head, and we ran into Lady, her wolfhound, about halfway to Moody’s office.

 

What did he say? He asked what happened, what the Death Eaters had done. He kept saying “The Dark Lord”, and I think that’s what caught Sansa’s attention. She said it’s what the Death Eater’s usually use.

 

We had to wait when the door closed, because Moody’s magical eye can see through wood, and Ron finally went to throw the door open.

 

The fake was aiming his wand at Harry, and Sansa had heard just enough. She let off the first curse, before anyone could react- it was a healer’s spell, one of the ones Mrs. Stark uses, and it freezes muscles almost like the Stunner. Ron hit him with a jinx, and I used a spell on his eyes.

 

Um, can you apologize to the real Moody if it messed up his magical eye? Because we were drilling it a lot in practice, and it really was reflexive.

 

Then the professors came, and Sansa started _shouting_ . Like, completely calm, but her voice was loud, and she was mean. She asked why they kept coming after Harry had nearly died, and who had let an injured fourteen-year-old be dragged off by a man who was considered completely insane? And how all of the adults had missed this _again_?

 

Elia and the others followed, and Auntie Elia took over the shouting. Um, you can ask Aunt Elia about that. Please.

 

We all saw the fake turn into the man that Elinor sketched for you- there was someone trying to get the kids out, but not Harry, and Sansa and Ron both made it clear we weren’t going.

 

And we heard Winky, and Crouch Jr’s confession- I heard that the Minister is trying to say we’re all lying, or all cursed, but really, there were like a dozen of us, and you try getting Arya to do anything, even with magic.

 

Dumbledore said that the Minister would want to question Crouch… Aunt Elia looked doubtful, but she couldn’t say anything.

 

And when Dumbledore came to the Hospital Wing in a little bit, we all found out that the Dementor that Fudge had brought as security went straight for Fudge, who said it wasn’t a big deal.

 

I don’t know why you weren’t told, ma’am. No one said in front of me.

 

And when Dumbledore tried to convince Fudge to investigate, to do something, he got angry and tried to do everything to deny it.

 

{ _Notes, Rhaenys Targaryen- Fudge relies on the Dementors to a really fucking alarming degree. Considering what happened that summer, was the death of CJr a way of shutting up an inconvenience?_

  
_M. Bones, would you be willing to look the other way if the project that Sarella and Jason proposed came to fruition?_ }


	8. Chapter 8

 

Chapter Eight- The Dracarys Network

  
  


**_Interview, Harry Potter with Sansa Stark_ **

 

{Harry Potter currently works as an instructor for the Dracarys Institute, and was loosely involved in the formation of the Dracarys Network, the original form of the Institute that was founded by Rhaenys Targaryen, eldest child of respected researcher Rhaegar Targaryen. Harry is currently involved in a number of projects for the Institute, including the current work on providing summer lessons to teach muggleborns and their non-magical families about the magical world.)

 

Sansa Stark: Hello, Harry. Thank you for agreeing to this.

 

Harry Potter: Well, you told me what this was about, and it seemed like a good idea. And it’s better talking about it to you than…

 

Stark: I can guess. Now, I remember that I told you to get in touch with Rhaenys after the mess of the Third Task.

 

Potter: Yeah- I’d met her once or twice, when I got taken along with everyone and she popped by Dragonstone every so often. But I wasn’t sure what to expect when you told me she could do something.

 

Stark: Rhaenys was always… well.

 

Potter: So when I got to her place, there was this very muggle-seeming woman who was… she had everything organized. There was Madam Bones, and researchers, and your mum, and everyone was nice. She made sure I was fed, and…

 

Stark: What?

 

Potter: Sirius came by, later, when mostly everyone had left, and she said she thought it would be good if we could properly talk. I thought she was just being nice, but she and Mr. Blood- this demonologist she knew, who she’d invited, they were planning things out. And she kept it up.

 

Stark: Though information, or what?

 

Potter: Some of it was books, especially when Hermione thought that the DA was a good idea- some of the members of the Network were academics and could help find good books, and with Susan, you, and Trys, we could get them in. And then after everyone knew, the Network was working on trying to get information, and I think Potterwatch was more them than anything…

 

Stark: Mmm, not all of the Network members were fond of the law. 

 

Potter: But they didn’t treat me like a kid… okay, well, there was some worry- your mum especially. But having someone treat me like my opinions were valid… it meant a lot.

 

**_Devan Lannister, via Quick Quotes Quill_ **

 

_ {Devan Lannister is currently security manager of the Lannister interests in the muggle world, and engaged to be married to a dryad girl from Brazil he claims to have met while duelling Snatchers.} _

 

I mostly got into the Network through my sister Myrielle, who knew Rhaenys. Damn, but that girl could talk. She was a scrawny thing, but she had the Silver Wizard’s way of pinning you with a stare and making you feel like there weren’t any other options. The Old Lion did it, too, but it was a different thing, you know, this terrifying wizard doing it, comparing it to this scrap of a charmswitch.

 

But the Order? I wasn’t a fucking moron, and I wasn’t going to touch that with a pole. We were almost all old enough to remember the way the last War ended, how many people were dead. And I had Uncle Tywin and Aunt Joanna, and we all knew that their had been a traitor that made the life expectancies of the old Order a hell of a lot shorter. Later, there were other things that pissed me off- the way they treated Black, for example, or the people who got hurt watching the Prophecy.

 

So when I heard the security layout that Blood, Bones, and Barnett came up with, I thought it seemed like a good idea. 

 

Rhaegar Targaryen and I didn’t get along too well at first, though. I wanted to actually have something to hit. It was Marei and Dancy who bitched me out, pointing out that I’d get the chance to fight soon, but if we didn’t have everything set up, then we’d all be screwed. We were trying to keep out of everyone’s way, too, which just  itched . 

 

Riddle- and using that name was actually Cat Stark’s idea- thought attacking Amelia Bones was a good plan, only he attacked when we were all there. It’s when I realized the Trouble Twins had a point, after all.

 

We barely got out of there, and I don’t remember much of it- left my eye behind- but we made it out.

 

And no, I wasn’t going to stop. Let my big cousin Jaime and little sister get all the glory? No thanks…

 

But that first year, a lot of what we were doing was gearing up. Not for war, not like the Aurors should have been doing, like Dumbledore apparently said and I knew Uncle Tywin wanted to do, but in getting people who would be willing to ferry people out of the country, getting safe houses and preparing countermeasures. All stuff that sounds boring until it saves you, you know?

 

_ Note from the Editors _

 

_ You know he only says the bit about the Snatchers so what’s left of the Lannisters don’t disown him, right?- Lavender _

 

_ How many Lannisters are above him in terms of inheritance, now?- Sansa _

 

**_Letter from Audrey Simmons to the Editors_ **

 

_ {Audrey Simmons is a part-time instructor at the Dracarys Institute, and hopes to become a full-time therapist. She worked with the group from November 1996 until it was formally turned into the Institute on January 1, 1999.} _

 

I’m not a witch, or a cryptid. I really didn’t know anything about this right up until everything went down, and then I was just…

 

I wasn’t taught to walk away from a fight, that’s all. And once I had my eyes opened, I couldn’t exactly walk away, could I?

 

I was in the wrong place in the wrong time, as silly as it sounds- second year of uni, I’d stayed in the library late to study for classes, and was walking back to the place I was sharing with some friends. It wasn’t the first time I’d done it, and for all I’d been told, ‘be careful’, I was tired, I was stressed, and I just wanted to go to sleep. Then there were these three men, and I thought…

 

I thought I was going to die, really. I fought- I had to learn self-defense, my sister insisted on it, but I was outnumbered. 

 

It was Bridget Durham and Obara Sand who ended up saving me, that night- Bridget apparently is from one of the middling-older wizard families, and Obara’s dad… well, apparently if you have magic, you know about Obara’s dad.

 

It’s a thing.

 

Magic, I learned, had a lot of things. 

 

As to why they let a psych student without any magic help them out… I really don’t know. Part of it, I think, was that they were all kind of different to begin with- they were all being forced to work with people they normally wouldn’t go near. Part of it was the fact that… even the people who lived in the non-magic world still grew up knowing about magic, so I could explain things in a different way.

 

Also, I was best at actually keeping everything under one organization system, rather than relying on interrogating five different people for where something might be  _ and _ relying on Ye Olde Codex.

 

I didn’t come on until after Sirius Black died and everyone knew that Riddle was back, but what I remember was how  _ tense _ everyone was. The Professor- it’s what I always call Max, even though he wasn’t really a professor, not until the Institute opened- he was always writing in his notebooks and you could tell how bad the news was by how deeply he was tearing into the paper. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t fights- Harry Hardying and Oliver Wood got in a shouting match that Garlan Tyrell had to break up, a few months after I joined up.

 

And then there was Willas. I think everyone knows about Willas and the alcohol. He’s trying to sober up, mostly, but still, I think he spent a solid month after Riddle died blacked-out.

  
They say everything has a cost, and I guess that was ours. Still, I’d rather know what is going on than live in ignorance, you know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note the first- Yeah, this was... absurdly fast, for me and this fic. Go me. Not entirely sure you should expect that for chapter nine, though the first third has a rough draft written. (This is possibly because I started a Lysa-fic in the same verse as An Old Familiar Tune. God, I need to write funny stuff soon.)
> 
> Note the Second- None of the characters I have written out on my "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" list for the Dracarys Network are OCs. I didn't want to overdo the ASOIAF side of things, so I went wiki-mining. Allison Barnes and Bridget Durham are from the HP 3 game, Maxwell Barnett is the writer of an Occulomency Book. Audrey is Percy Weasley's future wife, though I fully admit to stealing her last name from Jemma Simmons of Agents of SHIELD. (Feel free to imagine them as relations.)


	9. Simmering Shadows

 

Chapter Nine- 

 

**_Willas Tyrell and Lavender Brown_ **

 

(The following interview wasn’t published.)

 

Tyrell: Then Rhae commited suicide.

 

Brown: She was killed by…

 

Tyrell: She let herself be killed. She hated the Wizarding World, and the majority hated her back. She’d been half-killed when we were fifteen, driving her out of Hogwarts. But she came back, because she was worried for her family, for the people who couldn’t fight back. The Network was her baby, wasn’t it? But she’d been passing the reins onto Tyene and Arianne, Roslin and Audrey. She’d taken up a lot of fieldwork, the risky missions, and if you look into when she did it…

 

Brown: What about it?

 

Tyrell: She was in love with Sirius, you know. Terribly so- and it was mutual. Dancy says it was a grand doomed romance, and she was the only one who actually saw them together. Just a kiss, in the Dragonstone library, but Dancy is hard to impress. Whatever it was, they didn’t speak about it to anyone, and Dancy didn’t tell us until Rhae died. I don’t think his death broke her in the traditional sense, but she didn’t laugh as much- only a few of the kids could make her do it, or Audrey. And then.

 

Brown: So you think she died because of a lost love?

 

Tyrell: No. Not… just that. Amelia Bones had been a big prop of our group, and saving her- that kept her going, kept all of us going. I don’t think we could have done it without Bones, and Rhae in that intense state of mind. Targaryen grieving, Dany called it. But then Rhaegar Targaryen and Cat Stark died the next spring, and Robb Stark, even if he wasn’t part of the Network, losing Cat and Mr. Targaryen… 

 

It nearly gutted us. That’s when she fought with Black Walder Frey, and when we heard the rumors about Stoneheart. Nym was worried that Rhae was Stoneheart, for a bit, until we knew.

 

Brown: That might have been better than the truth, for Sansa.

 

Tyrell: It might have been, but I think Nym was overreacting. Then the Ministry fell, in the Summer of ‘97, and Marei and Dancy were in overdrive working to get people out of the country. Devan lost an eye, that first week, and Obara got herself into so much of a fight that it took six of us to get her out.

 

Then, two days before Christmas, Aegon and Sansa were making a run for the Network, trying to get something done.

 

They ran into Gregor Clegane and his band of Snatchers.

 

Brown: There have been stories, but Sansa doesn’t like talking about it.

 

Tyrell: She wouldn’t, would she? She’d played the silent songbird in Hogwarts so far that year, but Merlin, turning her over to Joffrey when she saw Aegon’s death… and Elia, I was there when Oberyn brought what was left back. She let out this  **_scream_ ** … and Rhae was so very, very quiet, but I think that was the big crack, there. We got Sansa back, with my brother Garlan, Rhae, Allison Barnes, and Jason going after her.

 

Sansa didn’t speak for a week.

 

Brown: Was that all?

 

Tyrell: {bitter grin} Oh, hells, no. The last one, the one that really did it? Was about a week and a half before she died. Viserys had been devoted to her, had loved working for the Network. And he’d gotten caught. So he just… he had a gift for getting people to lose control. So he managed to get them to kill him rather than be caught.

 

Brown: She had to know there were risks.

 

Tyrell: She  _ never wanted it _ . Ever. We forced her into it, because Harry went to her for help, because she could ask me to get the Ministry members, because she could see patterns none of us could. But she wanted people to leave her alone, and when she was asked to help, we still saw her as the girl who wasn’t a charmswitch or a witch.

 

Maybe that’s why she loved Sirius- from what I saw, he was the only person who just let her be herself. Maybe that’s what they were to each other.

 

**_Interview with Jon Stark-Targaryen_ **

 

J S-T: Sam, I’m not the one you should be… isn’t there anybody else you could be asking about this?

 

Tarly: Well, I can’t ask the Freys…

 

J S-T: *snorts* Good point. Right, so you want to know about Stoneheart and Melisandre and that shit. Well, first, you need to know about Uncle Ned dying, those first bad weeks. I think, out of anybody, it was your dad who pointed out why it went so bad so quickly, then.

Tarly: Because they had all been cooped up, and been told not to do anything, so when they were finally allowed to strike… they went overboard.

 

J S-T: Yeah. Merlin, I don’t think I’ve ever… Uncle Ned and his partner Robert Baratheon went to deal with something, a few ghouls, I think. Not alarming, but not unexpected. Turns out Robert’s son Joffery had waltzed right over to the Death Eater camp- we all knew he was a vicious little shit, and they were the ones who told him that he wasn’t wrong for being the way he was. So of course he followed them.

 

Tarly: You sound like…

 

J S-T: She was my sister. And we both spent time with Dr. Ellaria. But that was bad enough. Then we had one of the Freys ask us to get them out- Roslin and Perwyn weren’t sure, so we were going to be careful, but apparently they were a bloody mess when they were brought in, so they let their guard down, and didn’t realize the trap had sprung until it was too late. Aunt Cat and Robb died, fairly nastily. Robb wasn’t even part of the Network- They had agreed to using a safehouse provided by a friend of the family, and the people there were all killed.

 

Tarly: And Melisandre was here by then, right?

 

J S-T: *slowly* Yes… Melisandre started trying to correspond with my father in the Summer of 1995, though none of us really knew what about. Well, Elia probably does, but she’s never told. He was pretty dismissive of her, at first, going into one of his rages. I don’t know what changed, really? I always got the feeling that Dad forced a concession out of her, somehow.

 

Tarly: And, I really don’t want to poke at a sore spot, but your father died shortly after the massacre by the Freys?

 

J S-T: He was killed in one of those bridge collapses. There was a push to rule it an accident, just a consequence of someone meddling where they shouldn’t, but there were three of them and they were trying to get him out of the way. And when you remember that Dragonstone hasn’t been breached by anyone outside the family…

 

Tarly: Murdered when he was being captured, like Viserys?

 

J S-T: It’s probably where Viserys got the idea.

 

Tarly: I remember hearing the name Stoneheart around the same time.

 

J S-T: *very quietly* Yeah, I don’t think a lot of people were willing to give that rumor credence, then. Not until the bodies started piling up. Sam…

 

Tarly: We agreed that we’re sharing as much as we can, Jon. It’s okay with them.

J S-T: We didn’t know who she was. I know Willas thinks that Nym really thought Rhae could have been Stoneheart, but that’s the booze talking. Nym thought if Rhae was going to that way, she wouldn’t have the spare time to devote to creating Stoneheart. And none of us really had anything to do with Melisandre, though I know she tried writing to Jason a few times.

 

Tarly: Did Melisandre…?

 

J S-T: Do what she did to me? She swears she didn’t, but you can’t deny that she has a lot of good reasons to lie. When she brought me back, I wasn’t… I’m still not who I was before, and Stoneheart and Aunt Cat… no one would have that little survival instinct.

 

Tarly: But the Freys…

 

J S-T: Late Walder Frey was a lot of things- Dad thought he dabbled in necromancy, somehow, made Bluebeard references- it’s a muggle fairy tale- and his kids were raised to be cutthroat and turn on each other at the slightest provocation.

 

That being said… I’ve talked it through, Sansa’s talked it through, Ellaria’s said her piece so Arya didn’t curse anyone, Molly Weasley said something… not all of them were Death Eaters. Some of them were, and a good amount of the ones Stoneheart killed were collaborators, especially with the Snatchers and Registration Committee, but when does it cross into petty vengeance?

 

Well, it’s not my job, and I don’t think anyone would ever want me to take the job.

 

**_Lucas Blackwood, Interview with Lavender Brown_ **

 

(Lucas Blackwood is currently working with the new Aurors corps under Amelia Bones. Not quite thirty, he is a specialist in dealing with cryptid-wizard relations.)

 

Lucas: We didn’t know how bad the mess with Stoneheart was at first. I mean, people were terrified, then, and they had good reason to be when you think about it. All it took was an angry word from a neighbor, or just one doubt, and we all knew what Riddle had in play. 

 

So most people were just too afraid to speak out, because it might be you who suffered, or it might be your friends, your family… 

 

But there were people who joined the Order, or the Network, or volunteered for the loose groups that individual members mentored. And some people listened to Stoneheart. They were angry, and they were grieving, and Stoneheart gave them a chance to punish the people who were hurting them when it seemed like no one else was being done.

 

Interviewer: But there were things that the Network and the Order were doing, right?

 

Lucas: Mmm… trying to put out fires for the most part. But there were things that worked well. Even with what happened, we had a program in the Summer of 1997 to help keep the student Muggleborns out of the reach of the Death Eaters.  Some of them had to stay in Dragonstone, which I think was the only thing keeping Mrs. Targaryen and her mother-in-law sane, and probably what started the Institute. And of course we had the Firebug Project.

 

Interviewer: That set the Prophet alight!

 

Lucas: Good pun! But I think Sirius Black was probably doing a victory lap in the afterlife, for that one. Jason Blood and Sarella Sand, by that point, were the main ones working on the project. I think the Order and the Network all knew that the Dementors were a major danger. The Firebug Project was the first thing that actually destroyed them, and we got to use it about a week after Dumbledore’s death.

 

We had a massive wake for all the people who didn’t get to see it, and then… then we had an anonymous source, and Brown, don’t ask me who it was, and they told us about Stoneheart. How she was a walking corpse, and one of us got close enough to learn who it was.

 

Interviewer: Catelyn Stark…

 

Lucas: Merlin, that made all of us sick. Not that we didn’t think that Mrs. Stark wasn’t capable of being angry- I’d seen her angry, and she’d been grieving for her husband for nearly a year before she died, and she clear about laying blame. But the unreasoning sort of mess that she’d become, the fact that she’d actually been rotting, it was beyond belief.

 

Interviewer: What happened, then?

  
Lucas: Jason, Garlan, Elia Targaryen, and… it was a mess. But she got to rest, and we tried to focus on the next problem.


	10. Darkest Before The Dawn: 1996-April 1998

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take two, hopefully with less formatting woes.

Chapter Ten

**Daenarys Targaryen, A Letter**

Jon,

You asked about what, exactly, I did for the Network. Should I be making a joke about how little you know?

(I am sorry about Ygritte. She was good people.)

A lot of what I did was what Bridget called “Steve Irwining”- I figured out what she meant later. I handled magical creatures, and some of the smuggling paths.

It was messy work, working with sanctuaries and individuals. And after Vis and Rhae died, I took over a lot of the work dealing with cryptids, passing messages and helping people flee.

Of course, there was Stoneheart. And people brush under the rug how horrible it was to know about magic, in any form, and live within the Ministry’s reach. It was such a tightrope, and even if you weren’t part of the Order or the Network, people living with the constant threat of death or dementors were not exactly at their bests, you know?

And they saw the victories, and they weren’t always pretty. This was before the breakout, of course, but people actually figured out how to burn dementors to death! No one had believed it possible, and then that happened. And people wondered, what else was breakable? What else was a lie?

And Stoneheart was offering an answer. She focused on Freys, of course, but the Freys were ruled by horrible Walder Frey, and Black Walder, and when it comes down to it, who can blame her? And she killed people who deserved it- one of the Lestrange brothers was killed in Sheffield, and left to be found by his partners.

She made the Death Eaters afraid, that was what people wanted.

And if it wasn’t for the fact that Stoneheart was suffering, I think that I couldn’t argue with her. I think a lot of us couldn’t argue.

Dany

_{Editor’s Note:_

_Okay, who asked Jon to write the Dragon Lady? -LB_

_She scares me!- Sam}_

 

 

**Arya Stark, Interview with Sam Tarly**

Arya: When Sansa went missing… she was the one who focused on the practicalities, after everything. She had this thing, where she goes blank and smooth and she kind of smiles and just plans… it was terrifying and kind of awesome when it wasn’t turned on you.

Sam: How so?

Arya: Well, remember, when Mum… when what happened… when she and Mum died, Sansa had just turned seventeen. They- the fake ministry- were trying to say that Sansa wasn’t old enough to take care of us, that we had to be raised by a responsible Wizarding guardian, since Sansa was still in school. But she argued that Rickon was in Hogwarts, too, and she had gotten our Uncle Benjen to agree to stay in Winterfell, and then it was going to be Christmas, and we’d all been on edge, so going home seemed brilliant, and I knew Sansa was thinking about just… not coming back.

But we didn’t stay at Winterfell, because Sansa said they knew we’d be at Winterfell. So we stayed at Dragonstone Island, instead. Which, there was Jon, there was the Network, and if we didn’t go back…

Rickon refused to go back, and he was upset whenever Sansa left. When Aegon’s body was brought back, and Mrs. T found out… Rickon kept looking for Sansa, and then we realized… we might not get her back.

Bran was sure we would, that Harry would find her like fucking Superman, or that Sansa would survive. I was old enough to know better about the first, but the second… that might have scared me more.

Sam: Why?

Arya: Well, I knew what happened to Neville’s parents- they worked with my Uncle Brandon, before he died. And this was Sansa, you know? Sansa didn’t like losing her temper, even if she was still scary pretty when she did it. She didn’t like showing that things were wrong, because what if she reacted badly, or people thought less of her?

And we did get her back, and she refused to talk. Elinor Tyrell and Audrey Simmons, they didn’t let her… she kind of refused to do anything, at first, just lay in her bed and hide under her blankets with Lady guarding her, and not even Bran couldn’t get in to see her.

So Elinor brought these speaking mirrors that she and her cousin Margaery were making, and Audrey sat there and studied and Lady wasn’t going to hurt Audrey, because Audrey didn’t have magic, and Sansa had been hurt with magic, mostly.

So Sansa worked on the mirrors, and Myrielle Lannister kind of threw soap through a crack in the door when she thought Sansa needed to, y’know, shower, and Marei Pearl replaced it with this lavender stuff.

And she started talking, until Rhae died and we found out about Mum and everything.

Did I say thanks?

Sam: {blinks} For _what_?

Arya: For getting Sansa involved in this. She got her cranky face on, when we found out Skeeter wanted to write a book about everything, and she’s been happy, getting to let everyone know what happened.

 

**Ginny Weasley, Interview with Sansa Stark**

Ginny: Right, so, where are we beginning?

Sansa: *after a pause* I think we should begin at the end of August 1997. I mean, the Ministry had fallen- we all knew it, after the message got out at Bill and Fleur’s wedding…

Ginny: *laughing* And I think that’s the only reason you were still talking to me, after how offended you got on Fleur’s behalf!

Sansa: You called her Phlegm, Ginny. Phlegm. I knew you were better than that. And when you got on about her being prissy, you kind of were describing me!

Ginny: Well, yeah, Harry pointed that out, and I think I was a little jealous at some point, Sans. You were the gorgeous one, and you’d never had a problem talking with my boyfriend…

Sansa: Please, if he’d had a crush on anyone in the Network, at any time, it would have been Audrey. And by then he was gone for you.

Ginny: I still can’t believe Percy is dating her. Really. But back to the topic, I mean, we knew, oh, shit, this is really happening, and they’ll come after our families if we don’t go.

Sansa: Right, and some people were going- Aunt Lysa left for the States, my cousin from the Whents left her husband finally to go who knows where, the Network was helping muggleborns escape, and we were going to be hostages.

Ginny: You could have gone, though.

Sansa: With Aunt Lysa? She didn’t offer. Anywhere I went... I couldn’t leave my family, and Dad’s family was down to Uncle Benjen after Aunt Lya died fighting Rookwood, and Uncle Brynden was on the run and with the Order, and I couldn’t ask Elia Targaryen if I could hide on Dragonstone. And anywhere I ran, I was seventeen, with four younger siblings. We were backed into a corner, really.

Ginny: And trying to go into hiding would have been a big mess for us, too. Leaving Hogwarts… I mean… where do you go from there.

*beat*

Also, Ron already had the ghoul thing taken.

Sansa: Right, and when we got there… they didn’t touch Professor Hightower, even though they had to know she and Madam Pomfrey were healing students the Carrows said they shouldn’t. Or Professor McGonagall.

Ginny: Also because Hightower “missed” a practice curse and hit Alecto.

Sansa: *laughing* True.

Ginny: But there was work to do, and it needed to be done. Someone had to help the younger students, and if we didn’t… look, we knew we had to be there, because we didn’t want our families hunted down, and I think we knew, if we didn’t stick it out… we’d kind of lose Hogwarts forever.

Sansa: Yeah. I mean, we couldn’t all...

Ginny: You and Luna were captured, and you did it on your own merits, mind you. And you both got out, and you kept fighting.

Sansa: But I didn’t want to stay, and I wasn’t sure we should go back after Christmas, I should have…

Ginny: Okay, yes, you were great with the kids who were scared, and we really missed you a lot, but I like my friends alive. And we did keep fighting- a lot of people had to hide in the Room, before the Battle.

There were kids who still can’t hold a quill, because the Carrows had them under the Cruciatus too long. So many kids who got cursed and can’t forget it. And I’d love to know what people think of it, but you know what?

I’m more concerned with the fact that we survived then what the Prophet has to say about it. Or what people who cowered or who killed under… dammit. Sorry, Sansa. But you had Rickon and Bran to worry about. Arya could take care of herself, but Rickon was just a firstie and Bran had the accident and the damage from that.

And we won. ...Sort of.


	11. An Ending- May 1998 and onwards

Chapter Eleven-

**Harry Potter, Interview with Sansa Stark**

Potter: It was so weird, that last year. Everyone knows, now, that I needed to find the horcrux.

Stark: Is it horcruxes or horcruci, or just horcrux? I’ve heard different answers.

Potter: I think Mr. Blood said it should just stick to horcrux, so he didn’t need to think about more of the bloody things. We went to him, after the Wedding, because he’d been working along similar lines, and I hoped…

Stark: Well, it sounds like he helped.

Potter: Yeah- it went similar to an old problem he’d been working on, and while it didn’t help that, he managed to use it after Sirius died, and so that was… two down? Three. Three down. The diary, the ring, and me.

Stark: Did anyone else know?

Potter: Well, Voldemort should have known. I was never sure…

Stark: Mmm, because he… did he try to kill you, or just break you?

Potter: Pretty sure it was killing me.

Stark: Alright. So how did you not die…

Potter: I honestly have no idea… unless you mean Mrs. Targaryen and you yelling at me afterwards.

Stark: Oh, shush. It was nothing compared to Arya later.

Potter: Is she still calling me an idiot?

Stark: Oh, yes. So how much were you aware of, that year?

Potter: A good amount? It came in flashes- I would be out of contact for a few weeks, and then someone would tell me, or I’d get Potterwatch. Which was really weird. And Mr. Blood or Sarella would find me.

I met up with Jon, right after the Melisandre thing, actually.

Stark: Oh, good, can you tell me what in the name of the Seven happened?

Potter: He wasn’t too clear- apparently some Aurors under Bowen Marsh were worried about Jon, and well, the Death Eaters killing them all, and they decided to get rid of Jon in hopes of a reward. I think they knew his mum was in the Order, and by then she and Rookwood had killed each other…

Stark: Aunt Lya always swore she’d go out fighting.

Potter: Right. And so they used a couple of curses- Jon explained some of them, I think he was trying to remember it? And he’d bled out, and next thing he knew, Melisandre was standing over him and it was a day or two later..

Stark: Which was probably very confusing for him.

Potter: I’m not commenting. Similar experiences and all that.

Stark: You are a _horrible_ friend.

Potter: I was trying to save everyone!

Stark: By martyrdom?

Potter: Sansa…

Stark: I know. But still, you were an…

Potter: Idiot?

Stark: Yes, well. Was Jon showing any strangeness at that time?

Potter: ...Any stranger than normal? Or do you mean was he using icicles to spike Death Eaters in front of me? Hermione might have seen something, but she was so busy trying to disprove Jon’s version of events so it made sense I don’t know. It was chilly?

Stark: Fair. Is there anything from that year that you don’t mind sharing?

Potter: That people were… there were people who showed little kinds of bravery, I saw, and who acted out of trying to do the best for who they could protect. And please tell me that the Registration Committee is going down.

Stark: Kingsley Shaklebolt sicced Myrielle Lannister, Alerie Tyrell, Amelia Bones, and Stannis Baratheon on them.

Potter: *grins* Fair.

 

**Myrielle Lannister**

Of course the Battle wasn’t the end. Only the dreamers and morons thought that. Most of the Targaryens were dead, and god only knows what happened to Jon, back after Rhae…

Merlin, that girl didn’t deserve what she got. It should have been her that came back, not Lyanna Stark’s mistake. Elia didn’t deserve that.

But the world is just a series of lessons in how you don’t get what you deserve. You can force the world to give you what you want, but my gods, don’t expect a happy ending unless you are really lucky.

I’m a Lannister, though. I get to make other people’s luck.

Because yes, Riddle died during the battle. And yes, Bellatrix died, and Elia Targaryen’s little firey cyclone showed how terrifyingly effective Project Firebug was.

But it wasn’t a case of “all the evil showed up, we vanquished it, and we shall live forever in song and story.”

Not everyone headed to Hogwarts, and that included a lot of Ministry workers who had day-to-day jobs, or night shifts, or any of that. There were a lot of people who listened but didn’t take the Mark, especially while they tried to pretend it wasn’t a hostile takeover.

And after the Battle, we didn’t move on the Ministry like that. Yes, Shacklebolt was declared Minister- by the people who won the Battle.

At Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, records were being destroyed, people fled or made up stories, and a few people realized… what happens next?

Because I’m old enough to remember what happened in ‘81. How quickly they wanted the mess buried under the celebrations.

So was Amelia Bones. So was Stannis Baratheon, bless his crusty little heart.

So was my very pissy cousin, though no one was stupid enough to let Cersei near the Investigations and Evaluations Committee. We’re not trying for a kill rate, after all.

And some of the people… we can’t prosecute, because either we have no evidence or they didn’t do anything quite chargeable, but they still…

Ah, well, like my brother says, we can’t stop human fuckery.

There is a Hit Wizard and Auror contingent, though. Nym Tonks is in charge of that, with my brother. Some of the Snatchers were horrid people before, and not going to go back to the shadows so easily. We don’t want another Longbottom case on our hands, and it is supposed to be good PR.

My brother uses it as a dating service, but Tyrion went and got himself disowned and exiled to some place when Tysha died, Joff is in Azkaban, and Jaime… no one really thinks Jaime will marry.

(Though for the Seven’s sake, he was never attracted to bloody Lyanna Stark!)

So with so many people dead- thank you, Joff, you wormy little maggot- Devan is currently… second in line for Casterly Rock? Tommen is disqualified, Myrcella is disqualified by Greyback, thank you Uncle Tywin for being you, Kevan’s family… well. And then Devan. Which is weird.

Because now people are actually paying attention to my scrapegrace brother, and his dryad girlfriend is almost as big as scandal as Tysha was, way back when Tyrion proposed. Devan points out that she was a Snatcher target, and held her own against them, and everything, but… I don’t know how much of it is true, and how much is Devan protecting Olivia and himself.

I guess somethings never change… maybe he should ask Elia Targaryen for tips?

 

**Letter, Rhaenys Targaryen to Rhaella Targaryen**

Dearest Grandmere,

I know you worry, and I am sorry- though I think your children are truly the ones who have given you your white hairs!

And I suppose you have a point, in asking why I am doing this, why all of your family is doing this, and I suppose I owe you an answer. (I apologize if I sound like a theologian, I’ve been translating thirteenth-century Latin for the past week and a half!) I could have run, maybe. I could even start doing so now. I could live a long life, with bitterness and suspicion as my lovers.

~~I’m being cruel now, aren’t I?~~

But I was, as you once said, a very good student. And they say life is the best teacher, do they not? And oh, what we have learned, all of us who have entered Hogwarts in the past… oh, shall we say it was twenty years or so? None of us were permitted to keep our innocence, I think, no matter what part of the divide you were on, all of us dealing with the darker realities of life.

We watched and learned as the horrors were excused, and forgotten, and speaking of them was deemed terribly, terribly rude. They learned that excuses were made if they tried to continue the same horrific logic, and kept their practices up, as long as they avoided certain words or symbols.

Can you blame me, for hope that this time they will get it right? That this time people could learn?

If I cannot hope, if none of us can hope that our actions can help those who come after us, then why should we try anything? Why did my father try to send his children to a place that might not welcome them, why did he propose to my mother, why did my mother help the Order back then? Why is Uncle Oberyn trying to perfect potions for people who are looked down on? Why shouldn’t I take Sirius and his godson and flee to somewhere far away?

Oh, gods I want to, though. It hurts, being afraid. And I want that happy ending. ~~I know it probably won’t happen.~~

I want to try. I don’t know if I could live with myself, if I made any other choice.

Much love,

Rhaenys


	12. Epilogue

The problem with a story, as I was once told, is that it changes with every teller. A single changed word, stressing a different syllable, changes the meaning of a sentence.

How much can the story of something like the past few years change depending on the teller? None of us had the same experience, the same background knowledge or family ties, the same outcome.

Not all of us survived.

And that is why we decided to publish this as a collection of interviews and letters, notes and voices, the living and the dead. While we decided against publishing all of the spectrum of voices- there are those who can and have made themselves heard with no input from us- we hoped to lay to rest some of the thornier myths and mysteries.

We hoped to make someone understand, and, perhaps, connect.

  
_ -Sansa Stark _


End file.
